The Toronto Student Transportation Group is an initiative between both the Toronto Catholic District School Board and the Toronto District School Board. Our goal is to ensure the health and safety of our students through various modes of transportation and to help families make informed decisions regarding their transportation choices when accessing education here in Toronto.
Spotlight
First Day of School
I don’t remember my first day of school but I can only imagine the excitement and the trepidation that I must have felt. Standing there waiting for the school bus
to show and then boarding that huge yellow vehicle filled with people I didn’t know and leaving my parents behind. Thank goodness for my big sister to show me the ropes.
Not everyone may have a big brother or sister to help them on their first day so we have a number of suggestions to help reduce the stress associated with those first day jitters for both the students and parents.
Talk to your child about travelling to and from school each day.
♣ Tell me about how I will get to school: Will I walk? Will you drive me? Will I take the school bus?
♣ Remind me each day how I will get home and who will pick me up.
♣ Walk or drive me to school before the first day to show me the way.
♣ Teach me to wait for the bus on the side walk, well back from the road.
♣ When the bus stops and the door opens, show me how to climb up the steps and hold onto the railing.
♣ Remind me to behave, listen to the driver and sit quietly.
♣ Teach me to recognize my regular stop. I should only get off the bus here.
♣ Teach me how to get off the bus safely. I should watch the driver for the okay and look all ways before I cross the street.
♣ I should tell the driver I see who is to meet me and walk to the person who is picking me up.
Best of luck on your first day of school!
“Labor Day is a glorious holiday because your child will be going back to school the next day. It would have been called Independence Day, but that name was already taken.” ~Bill Dodds
Current News
We would like to provide an update for those schools impacted by the driver shortage at Stock Transportation. At this time there continues to be more bus routes then available drivers. Stock has undertaken the following actions to minimize disruption for all schools:
Moved all charter drivers onto daily regular runs
Brought in out of town drivers to take over open routes
Created a signing bonus to entice new drivers
Launched a new media campaign to help keep the recruitment numbers at maximum
Deployed all spare drivers to cover open routes.
The TSTG has been working with our other transportation providers as well to shift work to other carriers but most carriers are not in a position to take on new work at this time. As more drivers come on-line we can continue to re-allocate runs to carriers that have available drivers. Stock will also have a number of new drivers come out of their current training program over the next week.
Unfortunately, this still means that there remains the possibility of significant delays at some schools while the bus operator sends drivers to complete work over and above their normal work schedule. We have reminded Stock (and all our carriers) that if there is a significant delay that they should be posting these as soon as possible to allow schools and parents to make alternate arrangements. A phone blast out to all parents on the impacted routes will also go out again this weekend. The directly impacted routes are highlighted below. Please note that even though a route is impacted it still may be covered with little to no impact to family and schools.
775
772
770
761
759
757
722
725
715
713
710
703
702
4754
4751
4711
4761
7822
4930
4962
4964
1926
We appreciate your patience as we work though this driver shortage with our bus operator. We know these delays greatly impact many of your families and school routines and we hope to minimize these issues over the coming weeks.
We are aware that many families have received a busy signal when attempting to contact our office this past week. To serve you better we have a temporary number that should eliminate any busy signals so you can speak with call centre representative. The temporary number for use in September is 647-790-3829.
Information
- Parent Letter August 30 2019
- Parent Letter August 27 2019
- TSTG Spring 2019 Newsletter
- TSTG Fall 2018 Newsletter
- New parent guide to transportation
- Safety Guide for School Children & Parents
- Access To Education
- Parent Safety Program (Kiss n Ride)
- Preparing Your Child for Using Public Transit Safely
- Purple Equals Parent Program
- Transportation Brochure
- Transportation Brochure For Students With Special Needs
- Safe Streets Guide 2016
- TSTG Policy Operation Manual revised 2018
- Toronto Effectiveness and Efficiency Report 2011
- Auditor General Report 2015
- Ontario Ombudsman Report on Student Transportation
Fast Facts
- Number of buses: 1816
- Number of students transported: 56,617
- Total distance traveled: 71,241 km
- Annual budget: $90 M
- Number of carriers: 7
- Change requests each September: 1400
